The Fonmon Winter Shoot - back out in the field!

Hi everyone!

So, last weekend was the first shoot of the Field season (at last!!) – the Fonmon Winter shoot, a Marked Forrester round which I have never shot a full round of before. The final round of the Welsh Masters last year was this round, but we only shot a half because the weather was so bad. That meant that whatever score I shot would be a new pb by default!

As it is an Animal round and not part of a series like the Masters or ranked, I had hoped to take Vasquez and shoot as Bowhunter. That style suits animal targets as it is a hunting setup, but my arrows for that bow were in the middle of being refletched and I didn’t have enough of them finished yet. If I’d lost the fletches on more than 1 of them I wouldn’t have enough to finish the round.

They’ve been finished now though and they look the business! These arrows are going to be shot at dark animal faces and 3D targets, I wanted them to stand out and be visible – so I went with blaze orange zebra-stripe wraps and matching vanes/nocks – check them out, no way I’ll miss those in the target!

So as the arrows weren't ready, I took Maya with me – my Freestyle Unlimited setup. I had spent some time in the weeks before setting Maya back up for outdoors and getting sightmarks ready for the Glamorgan Championships in a week’s time so this was a good road test. 

We got to Fonmon bright and early, and boy was it cold! It was only about 1 degree but the wind chill and shade on the course made it feel far colder - it was a good idea I decided to wear extra layers just in case! It did have its good side though, the ground was frozen so it was the first time I’ve ever been around Fonmon without being knee deep in mud!!

I went around the course with Geraint Thomas and Dave Home and put in a fairly steady performance, finishing on 865 which secured me 2^nd place and a silver medal – result! Geraint won the day, with an incredible 940 points – 10 points (2 spots) short of the Welsh record! He had a slow start as it was a new setup and he had to dial his marks in, but cleaned up the 2^nd half. If the bow had been setup from the start I think he would’ve broken the Welsh record with ease. 

The standard of shooting was high!

As it was a Forrester round, the targets are animals with coloured spots for the ‘super-kill’ high points area that are smaller than the spots on regular targets. I used the day to test my cuts and I was spot on all day, and the targets where I missed the spot were quite close, not miles out so they may well be spots on a regular face. It’s given me a confidence boost to know my estimations have improved , so I’m really looking forward to the regular Field/Hunter rounds that are coming and hope to break 530 points this year to claim my Grand Bow Master title!

The next shoot is the Pentref March and Glamorgan this weekend as I mentioned above. They are FITA 24 target Mixed rounds, and the targets are much bigger – and closer! 12 of the targets are unmarked, but my range estimations are usually pretty good so I am hoping to put in a decent score and maybe get my next arrowhead award. We shall see!

Going Back Outside!

I’ve been doing a bit of work on my gear over the last weeks in the gap between the indoor target season ending and the field season kicking off to make sure everything is ready and as accurate as possible.

Maya has been set back up for outdoors with my FMJ arrows again. I set it up and got it shooting bullet holes, a vertical line on a walkback and I put it through the Chrono. At 55lb I am getting 255 fps average. This is a little slow for a field bow (usually in the 270’s at least) because these are such heavy arrows (419gn), but I love their performance in wind so I can live with that.

I put the numbers into Archers Advantage and generated my marks. A friend from WFAA let me shoot on her farm so I could get back to 80 yards and test them all. At the longer distances they were drifting low, about 2-3 yards out at 70 and 80 yards. I made a minor adjustment to the draw weight of the bow (about 1/3^rd of a turn on each limb bolt) which brought these up into the spot. The arrow flight is still good and the marks are accurate now for all my distances so I think we’ve nailed it!

I’m trialling one of the new LaunchTec rest blades at the moment. It’s made from an epoxy-composite instead of spring steel, so it won’t rust or bend, its more resilient and recovers faster. I tried it out on my bow and the draw is smoother and the shot is quieter. It seems to be very consistent and shoots well, but I’ve noticed a burning smell occasionally and it and it has scorched where the arrow flies off it a little. I’m going to keep an eye on this and will contact the company if it gets any worse, but it could just be settling down/breaking in.

I’ve done a bit of work on my Guardian as well. I took the cheap Decut rest I bought for it off and shelved it, it’s true what they say – buy cheap, buy twice! It’s awful and wobbles, so the Trophy Taker has gone back on it. It only took 10 minutes of tuning to get it shooting a straight line on a walkback, and my pins are still accurate for 20/30/40/50/60 yards, shooting great groups so she is ready to compete now as well.

The arrows I am using with it (ACC’s) fly perfectly, but they are a bit shot up. The wraps are scuffed up and only 5 of the 12 still have decent fletching, they’ve all been shot or torn off on pass-through’s. As this is a ‘hunting’ config, I want the arrows in bright visible colours like hunters do, so I’ve ordered neon orange fletches and nocks, and orange zebra stripe wraps! They are going to look crazy, but bright and easy to spot on 3D and Animal targets which is the point as this bow is my 3D rig.

Last weekend was a WFAA squad training session at Blandy Jenkins, and we focused on physical fitness and stamina. We completed courses of circuits, short runs and an ‘Ab-Blaster’ workout over the 2 days with lots of information and handouts on sports nutrition, and healthy eating to give us a physical edge in competition as well as our shooting skills. It was a real eye opener into just how bad for you some of the food I eat is and what I should really be aiming to eat. I have gone back to the gym since January anyway to shift some of the weight I put on last year (half a stone gone so far!) but the information and exercises we picked up at the course will be very useful.

So everything is all set and it’s less than a week now until the first shoot of the field season, a Marked Forrester at Fonmon. We’ve got some new WFAA members from Pentref who will be making their debut so it will be a good fun day, I just hope the weather is better than the last time I shot Fonmon!

Fingers crossed!!

Glamorgan County Championships

Hi everybody!

The Glamorgan County Championships were held today at St David's College in Cardiff. I shot in the afternoon session which was a good thing - our kids kept us up all night long so I was absolutely worn out in the morning!

It was a FITA 18 round, and I shot quite well for most of the day, dropping one 8 but the rest were in the gold. I finished on 568 around my usual kind of score which saw me take the bronze medal in 3rd place. I was chuffed with the result, and my club Pentref Bowmen also took the compound team trophy!

This was the last indoor shoot on my calendar, and a good result to round off the season! Now its time to look forwards to the Field season. I've been looking forward to going back outdoors, shooting in sports halls for so long with no field shoots on drives me crazy!

I've got a half holiday booked on Wednesday, so I am meeting my friend Chris and we're off up the club for the full afternoon to get everything sorted out. I have switched rests over tonight and set it up where it was before tweaking it for indoors, so it should be a nice easy transition. I just need to paper-tune to make sure the arrows are coming out straight, walkback to check centreshot and then make sure my marks are accurate.

I am trying a few new things out with my outdoor setup this season to try and chase down those few extra points and get my Grand Bow Master 530 score. One of them is the rest, I have ditched my usual .010 spring steel blade and I'm trying out the LaunchTec blades out. They are an epoxy-composite material instead of steel and offer a lot of advantages - they don't rust/snap, they recover faster  and don't 'chatter' on the draw, they are smoother and kinder to arrows and my personal fave that sold it for me - they don't bend. I've caught my rest before and bent it and its a bloody nightmare getting everything back in line where it was. I stress tested these blades including pushing one to destruction and they are bloody tough. I can bend it right down to the arrow shelf, let go and it springs immediately back to position with no set or deformity - I wouldn't even attempt that with a steel blade, so fingers crossed this will be more consistent and nicer to shoot with.

The other thing is a few minor changes to my arrows. I use Easton Navigator FMJ's outdoors and they are a heavy arrow but I like them, heavy and skinny - they cut through wind and fly well but I only have 100 grain points in them so the FOC was quite low at just under 8%. Maya is a speed bow, so a little extra weight isn't an issue so I switched the points out for 120gn which increased the foc to almost 10%. This should get a bit more 'ballistic' arrow flight and more accuracy at longer  range. I also changed fletches, switching my usual AAE Plastifletch Max for Flex Fletch shields. They are a bit lighter, but also slightly larger so I should get a bit more steering effect from them. I also moved them forwards slightly to improve face clearance.

They look good in my usual colours too, blue fletches and nocks on new white wraps...

So there we are, the arrows are ready and the bow is ready to be fine tuned to them. I shot the arrows across a chrono to check the speed and they have only slowed slightly from the extra weight in the points, coming out at 256fps where they were 261 before. Not much change, but the longer marks will change so I have generated new sight tapes from Archers Advantage and will print these off to try and make sure they are good as I can get them.

The first field shoot on my calendar is in exactly 3 weeks, a Marked Forrester round at Fomon, followed a week later by the Pentref March shoot & Glamorgan Field Championships, so it will be a good test to see if the changes have made any difference.

Fingers crossed!!

New toy!

Ahhh the end of the indoor season is in sight! Only 2 more to go now, the FITA Welsh Senior Championships and the Glamorgan County Championships in the coming weekends.

It’s about this time of year that I start getting cabin fever and can’t wait to get back outside. I’m a Field archer, not a Target one. I miss shooting in forests and up and down slopes and I’m itching to set my bow back up for outdoors. I’ve made some tweaks to my arrows to try and chase down a little more accuracy (different fletches in a new position, slightly heavier points) and can’t wait to try them out.

That’s one of the things that I hate at this time of year, changing setups. It's a pain changing rest positions, retuning for best arrow flight between skinny outdoor arrows and huge heavy indoor ones, and i've missed a few shoots because my main bow isn't set up for long distance, so I made the decision to pick up a dedicated bow for indoor target. Something with conventional solid limbs, a very tall axle to axle and nice and simple config. Being a Bowtech fan, I went looking at their past Target bow options and managed to bag an excellent second hand deal…

Allow me to introduce Kiara, my new (to me anyway!) Bowtech Brigadier in testarossa (matt black, metallic red cams)

It arrived last week and it needed a fair bit of work out of the box. I borrowed an arrow rest to try it out, and it felt bloody awful to shoot. It flopped like a jelly bow and didnt feel right so I gave it a full check over and found that it was set up totally out of spec.

It was over ½” too long ATA (close to 41”, should be 40 3/16ths”) , the cables had no twists in them and were poorly made with uneven tension and the string only had about 1 twist in it. The previous owner said it was set at 55lb for me but it was almost 10lb below this, which is below the limbs safety rating (they should be shot no lower than 50) and because it was long-strung the valley felt like 90%+ let off, the string was actually starting to go slack before the cams bit which is dangerous as the cams can lock up or the bow might derail (blow up!) trying to get it to wind down.

I made a new set of cables for it myself to Bowtech’s spec, fitted them and synchronised the cams while twisting up the string to the correct length. The limbs needed a few turns and it is now at 55lb and feels much better. It only has one draw stop on it and in the correct hole, the letoff is quite high which made the wall feel a bit spongy so I have advanced it one notch whch has it down to about a 60-70% letoff I would estimate and it feels a lot sharper. I also cut about 1/2" off the carbon stringstop so it can be pushed further into the bow, and fitted my spare BowJax stringstop enhancer over the worn stock one to improve its effectiveness.

 

I've ordered an arrow rest and a V bar so that I can fit my spare stabilisers, and start shooting arrows off it to get used to it and see how it performs. I can’t afford a sight/scope for it yet or a proper case but this isn’t going to be needed for another 8-9 months so I have plenty of time to pick up the parts and get her set up ready for next year’s indoor season.

 

Squad training, and the WFAA Welsh Indoor Championships

On January 5^th and 6^th, the WFAA Squad had training led by our coach Ray Howells. It was a really productive session, focussing on correct use of back tension through the shot and placing a lot of emphasis on developing a solid shot routine based on the BEST method developed by Korean coach Kisik Lee.

I found this really helpful because I am my own worst enemy. I will come to draw, aim and something doesn’t feel right. Instead of letting down and starting again, I will power through it and make a poor shot – then kick myself for not coming down! It’s a surprisingly hard thing to do and most people do the same, so by using a solid shot routine there is a set sequence to follow and if anything deviates from this then you know something isn’t right, reset and start again.

On the Sunday, Ray had a little betting going on to try this under pressure! Everybody who wants to shoot chucks 10p on the floor. You all shoot and score 3 arrows and the highest score gets the pot. If there is a tie, it rolls over and you need to put 10p more in to stay in. It was amazing how much fun this was and knowing that you are shooting to win the pot, even though it’s a matter of a few £ made it very interesting to see how the pressure affected everyone!  We did it for a few rounds, and after about 4 ends of tying I won the final pot with a 10 10 10. Put in about £1.50 across the morning and picked up a fiver, my first prize money – it’s a start haha!

Ahhh, smug mode :)

I adopted the new shot sequence during the following weeks practice session to start to drill it into my head, and had a great opportunity to test it in the field as the 13^th of January was the WFAA Welsh Indoor Championships. It’s an IFAA indoor round, 60 arrows at a 5 spot target. I was on the same target as the top WFAA archers so the pressure was on.

We were matched for about 2 dozen, until my opponent dropped one into the 4 ring and I took the lead by 1 point. There were still 3 dozen to go, the door was open so it was a case of staying cool and making strong shots. I was very nervous, especially towards the end but stayed in the spot and was on course to win. The final end of arrows were a bit nerve wracking, but after a few recent experiences I am getting a little more confident shooting under pressure. I focussed on calming my breathing, and on the shot sequence to make sure every arrow was as strong as the last and put down the last end - 5 X’s, finishing on a clean score of 300/300 with 46 X! 

The afternoon session followed, and all of the compound archers dropped a point or 2 during the round, so I had the only clean score and when we were all finished, the award ceremony was held and I received the gold medal as WFAA Indoor Champion for 2013! The award ceremony was also held for the WFAA Welsh Field Masters Tour stage 5 and final awards, as it was rained off on the day. I received 1^st place for stage 5, and 1^st place overall awards so I was also announced as WFAA Field Master in Freestyle Unlimited for 2012!

Not a bad way to start the season, WFAA Field Master & Indoor Champion going into the new year! I was absolutely thrilled with this result, and hope I have done my sponsor Wales Archery Specialists proud so far. Mat Symmonds who is also sponsored by WAS took gold in Recurve so it was good to see the Wales Archery shooters at the top on the day!

 

The AIUK Ironman Frostbite!

Hi everybody!

Things have been a little quiet recently on the competition from since the Nationals, there has been a gap of a few weeks with nothing on. However the Archery Interchange UK forum run a winter competition at this time of year, and the Welsh leg of the shoot was at my home club Pentref Bowmen.

The round being shot was the Frostbite, which is 7 dozen arrows at 30m, at an 80cm face. I went up bright and early and put all the target bosses out and pegged out the shooting lanes. The weather has been absolutely atrocious recently with record rainfall (the second wettest winter since records began!) so the ground was absolutely waterlogged and muddy, but that wasn't going to stop us bunch of brave archers (for brave, read idiot) from shooting!

Chris Bruno and myself at the start, before the rain moved in!

Freezing cold and wet, thrilled to be here! Feel sorry for Chris, he forgot his waterproofs!!

There were prizes for silliest hat!

Milly (the organiser) with her Mongolian bow, ready to rock!

Gavin looking suave under pressure, competing against Milly!

Milly taking a shot with the Mongolian.

The mud at my shooting peg, at least consistent foot placement was easy!

Maya is set up for 18m 3 spot with huge heavy X7's and they would've been blown everywhere in that wind. AIUK class all compounds together regardless of how they are set up (its only a friendly comp anyway) so I shot Vasquez in Bowhunter style. It made quite a nice break to shoot a Bowhunter style bow at spots instead of 3D or animal faces.

It rained on and off for most of the day, at times quite heavy so the trench coat at wide hat stayed on all day, and the pile of hand warmers I brought with me made me very popular! In the end I put in a score of 783/840 which put me in 6th place out of all AIUK compounders - happy with that considering the conditions we had! The winning score was 796 and I reckon I could beat that if I had Maya in outdoor config (getting cocky now!), so there is always next door when Maya will be set up ready and I have a dedicated indoor bow.... watch this space

The National Championships!

 

Hi everybody!

This weekend (1/2 December), ArcheryGB hosted their Indoor Extravaganza at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. It was the Junior Nationals and the Back2Back shoot off on Saturday, and the Senior Nationals on Sunday. My friend Chris and I entered the Senior Champs on Sunday and Chris drove us up for the afternoon session.

This was by far the largest shoot I’ve ever been to, the venue was huge with over 900 archers shooting across the 2 days! When I walked into the hall, I was a little blown away by how many targets there were and how many archers were taking part!

 

We were early as the roads were clear on the way up, so we signed in, set our equipment up and had a wander around the trade stalls. Wales Archery, Merlin and TheArcheryCompany had mobile shops on display among other retailers, so I treated myself to a few bits and bobs I needed and grabbed a brand new fletching jig from WA. The one I’ve been using is a little simple and I could do with something better quality.

I managed to grab myself a nice little keepsake too :) ArcheryGB were selling 122cm FITA targets from the Olympics. These are full size coloured targets that were ready for the Olympics but were never used, and they are made of a waterproof treated fabric so they are more like a canvas print than a paper target. They were only £2 so I grabbed one which I’ll keep rolled up in my cupboard, and as and when I ever get my own man-cave/workshop its going on the wall as a big poster!

The announcements were made for us to get ready, and then it was onto the line! The round was a FITA18, inner 10 scoring. My shooting was fairly strong with only 1 arrow dropped out of the gold, a high 8 where I punched the release but no other issues. The lighting in the hall could’ve been better, the targets were dimly lit and a little tricky to focus on. The other side had black curtains behind the targets which made it even worse I’m told. It was only a minor complaint though, my target companions were great guys and we had a fun time shooting together all day and chatting which took the edge off how big an event it was!

 

I was a little behind, but had a string of 10’s in the final half dozen and finished on 569.. the same as the last competition I shot – consistent! The scores went in and we all waited anxiously for the announcement of what was required to make the cut, the top 32 archers that go through to the shoot offs for a chance at the final.... The announcements came out and the list of names was put up... the cut was 567 and I was through in 25^th place!

The ladies shot the Recurve and Compound eliminations first, so I had a chance to have a quick practice and get ready. The call came out and I collected my scorecards, and was drawn against an archer named Colin Geenes in the shoot off. We exchanges scorecards and went up to the line to shoot...

Oh..my..god. I didn’t think it was possible to be so nervous! I usually get a pang of nerves on a target shoot when you move from sighters to scoring but nothing serious as it’s just me against the target – I score what I score and that’s it. This time, I was shooting against someone, and the pressure was on. I found it quite hard to concentrate and was a bit wobbly! We drew 2 ends, and then Colin won 2 ends with a perfect 10 10 10 (very impressive shooting under pressure, fair play!) and took the match 6 points to 2.

 

So the end result was I came 25^th in Gents Compound out of 105 competitors, and joint 17^th in the shoot off with the other archers knocked out in the elimination.

I wasn’t disappointed with this at all, as I was fully expecting to be knocked out in the first round given the level of skill I was shooting against but I was absolutely thrilled to have made the cut and the shoot offs on my first ever National Championships, and hope I did my sponsor Wales Archery proud on my first official outing shooting for them  It was my big shoot debut and it was great to see my name up on the board with the leading British archers, albeit some way behind them but still a great feeling!

Also worthy of note is that I was very impressed with the way the shoot was run and organised, everything was clear and the presentations, announcements and control of the shooting was spot on, as was the quality of the equipment and targets – a credit to the work party and organisers for their efforts and hard work!

So - the usual post-shoot performance review... I was happy with my shooting and couldn’t think of anything I would criticise myself for archery-wise, but one thing is for sure, I need to do a lot more preparation for shooting under pressure before next year. My shooting was good enough to carry me forwards a little further, it was entirely nerves that gave me problems so I’m going to look into techniques to strengthen this aspect of my shooting and improve my mental game and focus.